Contemporary Textiles Fair

Lovely weekend at the Contemporary Textiles Fair in Teddington.

News

So, it's been a while since I last posted, but lots of things have been happening!
I was lucky enough to graduate with a First earlier this year, with the fantastic opportunity to go down to London to exhibit at New Designers. All the hard work paid off! New Designers was wonderful with so many inspiring pieces of work and meeting people from the industry. 

This is one of my favourite designs
called 'Breakwater'.

Towards the end of the summer I moved down to London for just over 2 months to do an internship with the renowned Christopher Farr Cloth. It was such a valuable experience.  I met some lovely people and learnt a lot about the business. While on placement I was asked to work on their stand at design junction. It was an amazing show set in an old warehouse showing some of the best design around from well known companies to up-and-coming designers. 

Since moving back home I have been working on my own designs and have been accepted to display some of my work at the Mall Galleries through the Society of Designer Craftsmen in their 'Shop within the Show'. It will be very exciting to see what responses my designs receive. 

I am working on designs that combine kaleidoscopic repetition with geometric shapes found in old dilapidated structures. I will be digitally printing the designs and screen printing into them before making them into cushions and scarves. 

Working with my drawings and mirrors to
produce a Kaleidoscope image.

I absolutely love the colours of the worn faded
paint on this old cinema!

In the New Year I have also been given the fantastic opportunity to intern with Amtico; the UK based flooring design company.  I am very excited to start this as I know I will learn a lot from them.

http://www.amtico.com/flooring/design-options

Wish me luck!

I've had a productive week in the print room, here is a little glimpse at my collection so far

New inspirations...

I have become a bit overwhelmed by work at the moment and so haven't had time to write a post or even take many photo's of what I have been upto!

Last week I spent my time taking all my designs through to koda trace. I made a make-shift light box on my bedroom window for some weekend development sessions.

Nikolay Biryukov - student works for 1granary

I specialize in print, in particular screen print, but every now and again I get the to embellish and when my friend Olivia found this image I had one of those moments...I love it!
It is from an editorial by Nikolay Biryukov about cutting edge student works for 1granary.
I just love the embroidery and beading, and it has inspired me to get back into my knitting with the possibility of embellishing it.

It has also made me want to add embellished areas into my prints, but will have to think on that one and do some samples as I am not sure how it will sit with my designs as they are at the moment.

Another new development is that I have just bought (and now received) a vintage manual typewriter! I am so excited to start using it! I am going to incorporate the type into my business stationary... but really it is so I can play around and write cute letters to people!

In the printroom ...

I have been busy in the print room this week. My first design for my final major project is well underway. Hoping to have a final sample printed by the end of the week...

Today...

Had an amazing lecture from Alison Willoughby today.
She was so inspiring with her creativity and commitment to making extraordinary things!

We then had an opportunity to get a one on one tutorial with her, discussing our work, portfolios and future plans. She is frank and to the point but her enthusiasm is lovely. I got some really good ideas from her and she has definitely put me back on track for what I want to create...

...expect big things!!

Progress...

It has been quite a while since I last posted, I have been very busy in my absence though! The drawing has come along nicely and I am now onto development, putting my drawings into repeat layouts for screen printing.

I have also finished and handed in my Dissertation!! This is a major weight off my mind!

This last week at uni we have had a design event on and I attended a couple of workshops, my favourite of these was a lino printing workshop which I loved! I had never done lino cutting before and really like what I produced...

I am now considering taking this a step further and cutting an entire repeat onto an A1 lino....I'll keep you posted on how this turns out!